Adjustable multiple drill



Jan. 9, 1940. 4

A. I. HANDLING El AL 2,186,294

v f1 ARTHUR HANDLING NNNNNNN RS Patented Jan. 9, 1940 UNITED era-res,

r oFFic ADJUSTABLE MULTIPLE 1min.

Arthurl. Handling, Wilmington, Calif., and John Donald MacKnight, MountVernon, N. Y., assignors to The Texas Company, New York, N. Y., acorporation of Delaware Application December 20, 1937, Serial No. 30,670

1 Claim.

This invention relates to multiple drills and more particularly, to anadjustable multiple drill of a type suitable for use in cleaning heatex- It is not uncommon to use a drill having several bits rotatablesimultaneously in the cleaning of heat exchanger tubes, such as thoseused in the treatment of hydrocarbon oils, but since the tubes in thevarious makes and types of heat exchangers are often spaced at diiferentdistances, it has been necessary heretofore to keep several multipledrills having different drill bit spacing on hand in order to fit theseveral types of heat exchangers.

In accordance with this invention, a plurality of drill bit chucks aremounted on a plate forming a cover for a gear housing in such a mannerthat they may be pre-adjusted radially or otherwise on the plate so asto fit a certain tube spacing while, at the same time, the drivingconnection from a central source is maintained. A single I 7 gearmounted within the housing and driven from a suitable source serves todrive a plurality of idler pinions which mesh with pinions on theseveral drill chucks, and the arrangement'is such that when the drillchucks are adjusted to various positions on the plate the gearconnection between the driving gear and the several drill chucks will becontinuously maintained.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to theaccompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the multiple drill housing showing apart of the cover plate broken away;

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1,looking in the direction of the arrows; while Figure 3 is an elevationsomewhat similar to Figure 1, but illustrating a modified form of theinvention.

Referring to the drawing, a casing Ill having a disc portion II and aflange portion l2 has journalled therein an annular ring gear [4. Thedisc portion ll of the housing is preferably provided with a sleeve-likeextension I6 this extension serving as a bearing for a drive shaft l8journalled therein and attached to the ring gear I. A cover plate 20 isadapted to be secured as by a threaded connection to thev outer edge ofthe flange portion I2 of the housing and is provided at its center withan indentation 22 serving as abearing for an extension 24 of the driveshaft ill. The cover plate 20 has formed therein a plurality of radialslots 26 and an equal number of arc-shaped slots 28 formedconcentrically of the cover plate 20.

A drill chuck 3U journalled in a sleeve bearing 32 and having a flangedhead 34 is mounted in each of the radial slots 26 and a suitable nut 36having a threaded connection with the sleeve 32v serves to secure thechuck in any desired position in its respective slot 26. The shaft 38 ofthe drill chuck has secured atits inner end a pinion gear 46.. A bearing42 comprising a bolt 44 and a pair of nuts 46 isadjustably mounted.

in each of the slots 28 and on each bearing 49 is mounted an idlerpinion 48 adaptedto mesh with the teeth of the ring gear l4;By'loosening the nuts 46 each bearing 42 can be adjustedcircumferentially in its respective slot 28. Although but one drillchuck 30 and drill 5i! have been shown in the drawing, itis understoodthat as many drills will be used as there are slots 26 in the coverplate. Likewise, for purposes of simplicity but two bearings .42 andidlerpinion gears 48 have been illustrated.

In operation, the tube spacingof the particular heatexchanger to becleaned is measured, and the nuts 36 on the drill chucks are loosened sothat the chucks can be adjusted in their slots 26'so that the drillspacing will correspond to.

the spacing ofthe tubes of the heat exchanger. The bearings 42 of 'theidler pinion gears are then loosened, and the idler gears movedcircumferentially so that they will remain in contact with both the ringgear 14 and their respective pinion gears 49. In this manner, rotationof the drive shaft l8 may be transmitted to all of the drill chucks and,if the adjustments are properly made,the device can be used forsimultaneously cleaning several tubes of a heat exchanger or otherdevice. v

In the modification shown in Figure 3, the

operation is somewhat the same as that previousin their respective slotsin order to vary the spacing of the several drills.

The invention is not limited to the cleaning of tubes since the drillmay, obviously, be used in drilling simultaneously a plurality of holeshaving selective spacing in any desired article.

It is understood that various other modifications may be made in themeans for carrying out the invention by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appendedclaim.

We claim:

In a multiple drill, an annular drum shaped casing comprising a discportion and a peripheral flange formed on said disc portion, a coverplate adapted to be attached to said flange, said cover plate having aseries of radial slots formed therein, a sleeve bearing adjustablymounted in each of said slots, a drill chuck journalled in each of saidsleeve bearings, a pinion gear on the inner end of each chuck, saidcover plate being provided with a second series of slots, said secondseries of slots being formed on a circle concentric with respect to saidannular casing, a bearing adjustably mounted in each slot of said secondseries, an idler pinion gear journalled in each of said bearings, meansfor rotating said chucks comprising an annular ring gear in said casingand meshing with all of said idler gears, and a drive shaft for saidring gear, the arrangement being such that when said sleeve bearings areadjusted longitudinally of their radial slots each of said idler gearbearings may be adjusted in its respective concentric slot so that eachidler gear will be continuously in mesh with said ring gear and with oneof said pinion gears.

ARTHUR I. HANDLING. JOHN DONALD MACKNIGHT.

